St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-23
Health Officer Kilvington Lays Down
the Law and Talks of Various
Matters Sanitary.
Sacred Concert at the Kirmess---The
Little Back Door Yields Gracefully
to the Inevitable.
What Men Say---To-N Nights Amusements
Personal and General News
Notes OF Day.
THE PUBLIC HEALTH.
Health Officer Kilvington Talks
INTERESTINGLY on Various Tonnes.

interestingly on various TOPICS.
Health Officer Kilvington is making
the fur fly in his department and is ring
ing a lOud-toned gong about the ears of
many who have considered the laws
governing the public health dead
letter. Speaking of the sanitary condi-
ton of the city he said last night:
People who are having cesspools and
vaults cleaned by contract should eX-
anime the work and see that it is prop
erly done. l know of many cases where
merely the surface water is drained off,
and those people should know that they
are liable to be ordered to have the work
done over again. L am thoroughly in
earnest about this matter of
health. and every physician will
recognize its importance. To-day, for
instance, made trip on horseback,
and here are the results" He took out
memorandum book and referred to
two dozen places needing attention.
Tomorrow morning, when l bring
these up, the health inspectors will won
der where got them. 1t does not suf-
ice to run this Office on complaints
alone, though wish every complaint to
come promptly to me. Sometimes we
have no complaints, and then assign
the inspectors to various districts and
have them thoroughly examined and re-
ported upon, and in each case l ride
over the ground myself.
Il don't think the system of meat in
spection is in force here. There should
be some responsibility connected with
1t. AS it is, the inspectors may inspect
or not and no one is the wiser; but the
plan should be to have some one in au-
thority and regular reports made. Milk
should be inspected the same way. Four
times as many persons die of impurities
in milk as die of impure meat. Water
and trisnitrate of bismuth are largely
used in its adulteration, and no one
knows of its extent. Before I was
health officer used to get bad milk, but
since my election my milk has been
above the standard all the time"
The health officer delivered long
hOmily on the danger growing out of
the fact that so many wells, cesSpools
and vaults are sunk in the same sand
throughout Minneapolis, and gave it as
his opinion that the city water was
much more wholesome than average
well water. The board of health, he
said, was now considering plan to
have the general intake pipe for the
city water works laid to an island about
three miles north of Single creek, to
avoid the impurities which pour in the
river at the city. Bassett's creek is the
great source Of these impurities, and he
believes that in the course of year
thousands of tons of impure matter is
discharged thence into the river. Cues
toned concerning the petition from ST..
Louis Park for the removal of the pest
house, he said:
"That is really not pest house, but
a quarantine hospital, and is not so OBJ
fashionable as one might imagine. Of
course, no locality is anxious for it, but
| don't see how we could do better with
its 1T is more in the name than any
thing else, and don't imagine it does
st, Louis Park any special harm, after